The Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET), in association with Columbia College of Chicago and the League of Chicago Theatres, presented the second event in our multi-year series of national symposia that brings together ensemble artists, practitioners, and educators. This event is livestreamed from Chicago, Illinois on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on 20-22 May. In Twitter, use #howlround and follow @NETEnsembles.

With growing interest in ensemble scholarship and pedagogy, and an increase in ensemble artists entering academia, today’s “next generation” artists benefit from earlier, more visible, and more frequent access and exposure to ensemble-based training. These opportunities are now offered through numerous universities, colleges, and community youth organizations (as well as directly through professional ensemble companies themselves).

A conversation about documentation, archival strategies, and online resources. How is (and isn't) performance being conceptualized, produced, contextualized, and distributed across a range of platforms and media. What is the value for artists, educators, communities, and presenting organizations? Representatives from OntheBoards.tv, HowlRound, and BoomArts, as well as theatremakers from Teatro Linea de Sombra and filmmaker/archivist Adam Soch will demonstrate and discuss approaches, resources currently available, and possibilities.

Local ensemble artists, educators, and practitioners help to root the next few days of conversation and exploration in the specifics of this vibrant, theatrically rich community. What does ensemble mean in Chicago? What should we know about how ensemble training and practice happen here, in this time, in this place? After hearing our lead local respondents’ multiple perspectives, we’ll open it up to the full room. Grab the floor and respond to what you’ve just heard, or share your own thoughts on the core elements of ensemble and ensemble practice... in 60 seconds or less!

This session focuses on the expressive and affective qualities that can be viewed through the human and cinematic body, and responses that can be felt through the act of spectating. We will discuss how movement-based artists can utilize choreographic knowledge to create a digital canvas, how this canvas can be manipulated through rhythmically focused editing interventions, and how one can navigate the collaboration between movement creation within dance and cinematic forms. Comparisons will be drawn between cinema and movement, specifically as related to the choreological frameworks of relationships, proximity, and timing.

Members of Teatro Luna share a case-study of the company's recent original devised production, Generation Sex, which was intentionally developed on the road and with multiple university partners. Sharing the challenges and successes of this national experiment, Luna asks participants to explore the following questions: Is the notion of ensemble inherently exclusive? Can you build ensemble in a national sense, in multiple sites with a variety of entry points for artists? Can it be sustainable over time? Will it mean “equitable access” for all? The session culminates with an interactive peer-coaching session on scaling-up artistic and producing ideas that participants have for their own companies/careers, using local, regional, national, and international perspectives.

A smile is a smile in any language. A broken heart: a universal human condition. In a world of instant communication, advanced technologies, and inundating distractions, we often find ourselves disconnected and misunderstood. Silent Theatre has been actively devising physical theatre performance for the last decade; birthed from their shared student experience at Columbia College Chicago, the ensemble has returned to their alma mater to collaborate on LULU: a live silver screen experience. Through a video montage, performance of excerpted work (devised by Silent Theatre ensemble members and current Columbia College Chicago students), and curated panel, the ensemble will share the discoveries and revelations in their journeys as ensemble-based artists and their evolution as individuals, and how silence has been the best tool for listening to one another. The session will end with a discussion of how academic-born ensembles can find their niche and give back to their communities.

This dynamic roundtable will focus on “Call & Response,” a historic convening of black women and performance at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. With different relationships to the words “black,” “women,” and “performance,” Call & Response artists formed an ensemble, called for “Experiments in Joy,” and offered responses to the Call. Ensemble members and a university administrator will discuss the “Call & Response” symposium’s process, outcomes, and impact. Remarks, video, images, and readings will be interspersed with brief live performances, audience exercises, and discussion.

David Kersnar of Lookingglass Theatre will chronicle and discuss his recent production of 20K Leagues Under the Sea at Lake Forest College as a developmental presentation for a proposed professional production at Lookingglass Theatre Company. Lookingglass has a long tradition of developing work in an academic environment for an eventual professional production. Success of ensemble techniques, text revisions, and tested spectacle technology will be scrutinized. How does this process serve both the professional company and participants at the college?

Women at War, an original performance and civic engagement project, was created through partnerships between Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, veteran-serving organizations, and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The script is woven from story circles, interviews, and additional research to illuminate the lives of women who have deployed in recent combat and begun to re-enter civilian life. With veteran coaches in the rehearsal room, the play was staged with military choreography. This session combines excerpts of the performance with the original cast, a presentation on the development process, and a town hall discussion with veterans and actors.

About HowlRound TVHowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theatre, arts, and cultural community. The channel is at howlround.tv and is a free and shared resource for live events and performances relevant to the world's live arts fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Follow and use hashtag #howlround in Twitter to participate in a community of peers revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field. Our community uses the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). You can become a producer and co-produce with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, contact @HowlRound on Twitter, email tv@howlround.com, or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.

Love this Article?

REPUBLISH AN ARTICLEAll content is free cultural work available to you under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). If you republish one of our pieces, please include: "This piece, "Title" by Author Name was originally published on HowlRound (hyperlink to original article url), on Date."